Features & Reviews

March on Earth, Volumes 1 & 2

August 4, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

We are now three days in to Girls Only Week here at There it is, Plain as Daylight! Today I review Mikase Hayashi’s March on Earth, a sweet two-volume series about a young teen raising her nephew alone after her older sister’s death. Don’t forget to check out this week’s earlier reviews, for volume six of Peach-Pit’s emotionally rich magical girl series Shugo Chara! and volume two of Yun Kouga’s shonen fantasy series Gestalt!

March on Earth, Vols. 1 & 2
By Mikase Hayashi
Published by CMX

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When Yuzu’s parents died, it was up to her older sister to take care of her. Now that her sister has been killed in a car crash, only Yuzu is left to care for her sister’s two-year-old son, Shou. Determined to do for her sister’s young son what her sister did for her, Yuzu takes on this responsibility with her whole heart. Fortunately, she’s got a kind landlady with two sons, each of whom dotes on Yuzu and Shou (particularly the older son, Seita, who harbors a not-so-secret crush on Yuzu) so she is far from alone, no matter how bleak things might seem to Yuzu in the loneliness of night. Over the course of the story, Yuzu pieces together a family for herself and Shou, first with the discovery of the man who is Shou’s father and finally including the family who already loves her, regardless of the lack of blood relation. She also faces questions about her own future and whether or not her own dreams can exist alongside her commitment to Shou.

…

Gestalt, Volume 2

August 3, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

Gestalt, Volume 2
By Yun Kouga
Published by Viz Media

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This volume begins on a fairly dramatic note, as Father Olivier is possessed by something clearly unfriendly and very powerful. Ouri manages to drive out the intruder (using a pretty interesting tactic involving an incubus whose usual role is as “the monster that gives you wet dreams”) and the group’s quest continues after a short break in which more background is given about Ouri’s personal mission and how she acquired female form. The real drama of this volume, however, involves fortune-teller Shazan, whose participation in a local tournament (the prize for which is an item needed for the group’s transport) causes his true identity to be revealed. The volume ends with both Ouri and stray elf Suzu facing dangerous foes who also happen to be their siblings.

…

Shugo Chara! Volume 6

August 2, 2009 by MJ 5 Comments

Shugo Chara! Vol. 6
By Peach-Pit
Published by Del Rey

As volume six opens, Kairi is becoming more troubled over his role as Easter’s spy within the Guardians and especially his mission to distribute the “Wishing CD” to students at Seiyo Academy. Rima is struggling as well, both with her parents’ constant fighting and their overprotective behavior, particularly their insistence that she quit the Guardians. It doesn’t take long for either of these issues to be resolved, for better or worse. Meanwhile, Amu faces demons of her own as she finds herself once again forced into battling teen pop idol Utau (still working as a puppet for the evil corporation, Easter) who is now character transforming with Amu’s wayward guardian character, Diamond. Winding up to a final battle involving all the Guardians, Utau, and Ikuto, several new character transformations, and at least one unexpected guest, you’d think that was enough for one volume, but there is yet another surprise in store for Amu by the end.

Let me be perfectly up-front from the beginning. I love Shugo Chara! It is one of my very favorite series for younger girls and a great example of the way a talented team like Peach-Pit can take all the trappings of a standard shojo formula (in this case, the “magical girl” genre) and use it to tell a rich, thoughtful story that successfully explores the dreams and fears of children and adults alike. Its core concept–that all children have a “Heart’s Egg” that holds the potential for their most personal dreams–is honestly adorable, but more than that, it allows the story to delve into questions of desire, ability, hope, hopelessness, insecurity, self-awareness, and even gender identification (yes, really) as the series goes on. Its heroine, Amu, whose outward persona and inward personality are constantly at odds, begins the story by making a heartfelt wish to find “the courage to be reborn as the person I want to be.” Her wish brings her heart’s egg into the world to hatch as a shugo chara (guardian character)–a tiny, human-like representation of her would-be self. Where the story gets brilliant, however, is that Amu ends up giving “birth” to four different guardian characters over the course of these six volumes, representing all the many aspects of who she might be, making it clear that there is no one future self for any of us–but rather a wide array of potential selves, any of whom we may become or destroy, depending on our choices and desires.

This concept looms large in the series’ sixth volume, as Amu finds herself facing her own would-be self in battle. Yes, these mangaka have managed to create a literal fight between their heroine and a single piece of her inner self that is not only clever but actually quite stunning to behold. The children’s “character transformations”–magical incarnations of their would-be selves created by a bonding between them and their guardian characters–are a highlight of the series, and Amu’s transformation here is an enormous step forward for her. In the end, she discovers that believing in herself is what is truly important, even if she doesn’t yet understand who that is.

What draws me so to this aspect of the story’s premise, is that it contradicts the too-common idea that there is just a single destiny possible for any one person and that we must each choose one future for ourselves, no more, no less. Children these days are encouraged to make “permanent” decisions about their lives or careers earlier all the time, which is something I’ve found quite disturbing over the years. As someone who has already experienced several major career shifts in my life and explored many different versions of my would-be self, I suppose I feel akin to Amu, but my feelings about this go far beyond the personal. I really believe it is important to encourage children to acknowledge all their varied potential when they are young, and to make it clear to them that there is always possibility beyond what is right in front of them, even as adults. This series embraces that kind of thinking and that definitely contributes to my affection for it. It also doesn’t hurt that Amu’s would-be selves demonstrate that there is more to any girl than can be portrayed by a single stereotype. Between cheerful, athletic Ran, outspoken, artistic Miki, and girlish, nurturing Su, Amu can’t be placed into any neat shojo category (nor would she ever stand for such a thing) and that’s the kind of message I think young girls need to be getting from their fiction.

Another major theme in this series is cooperation, and that comes strongly into play in this volume as well. Just as Tadase finally achieved his first character transformation (“Platinum Royale”) in volume five, here the two remaining transformation-less Guardians achieve theirs as well, which is not only exciting but also frankly awesome (in the case of Kairi, whose “Samurai Soul” is beyond cool) and surprisingly cute (Yaya’s “Dearest Baby” uses a flock of rubber duckies as a weapon). Though Amu remains the most powerful of the group, as their enemies become more formidable, the children discover quickly that they always fight more effectively if they work as a team. This volume is quite action-heavy, containing at least two major battles. While this means that there is not as much page time given to thoughtful characterization in this volume, these battles are the culmination of all the careful plotting and character development the mangaka put into the first five volumes, and they provide quite a nice payoff. On a quieter note, something I mentioned in my review of volume five was how telling I thought it was that, despite his obvious personal conflict, Kairi was the one boy of the group able to appreciate and admire Amu for who she actually is (rather than who she might be), and this volume offers a major payoff in that area as well. Lastly, look for a subtle hint at the return of a beloved character who has been gone far too long!

As always, the art is a real highlight of this volume. Though this series adheres to the usual sensibilities of shojo for young girls–big eyes, sparkles, flowery backgrounds, and ornate paneling–it is done so cleanly and so well that it’s impossible not to admire it, even as a jaded adult. The style always adjusts to fit the character’s moods as well, as is most evident in an early scene with Rima, which is drawn in an uncharacteristically subdued manner, appropriate to her deep sadness at the time. The final chapter of the volume is honestly stunning, as both Amu and Utau achieve new character transformations, ending with a desolate look at Ikuto’s position that evokes true loneliness.

As this review becomes quite obviously over-long, I think it’s clear that I have a lot to say about this series, and I think my level of admiration probably comes dangerously close to hyperbole. It’s really satisfying, however, to read a series that makes me want to go on and on like this in praise. For those who think manga like Shugo Chara! is kids’ stuff (or perhaps more to the point, “girls’ stuff”) I urge you to set those preconceptions aside and give it a try. This series nicely demonstrates just how emotionally complex and genuinely moving sparkly, girly manga can be.

Sugarholic, Volume 1

July 30, 2009 by MJ 7 Comments

Sugarholic, Vol. 1
By Gong GooGoo
Published by Yen Press

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After the house she lives in with her mother and grandmother is destroyed in a landslide, twenty-year-old slacker Jae-Gyu is sent away from her rural hometown to live with her older brother in Seoul. With little money and even less optimism, she gets off the bus in the big city, only to lose her money and make an enemy (a good-looking but arrogant guy whose shirt she accidentally tears) right off the bat. Things get no better once she finds her brother, who is obviously engaged in shady business and really doesn’t want her around. She does find some refuge in her best friend, Hyun-Ah, whose family moved to the city a few years back, but even that is marred by the re-emergence of Hee-do, a childhood playmate Jae-Gyu bullied repeatedly, who is now an up-and-coming pop star harboring a long-held crush on her. Then to top things off, she gets embroiled in the middle of some kind of dangerous family trouble involving the torn-shirt guy (a martial artist named Whie-Hwan) who insists they pretend they are in love with each other in order to save himself from being sent out of the country.

…

Tears and Manga

July 29, 2009 by MJ 32 Comments

So, I picked up volume four of Pluto earlier this evening, anxious to dig in to the latest volume of my favorite manga series this year. My plans were dashed less than a chapter in, however, when I became so emotional that I actually had to put it down. Since this volume is new, I’ll avoid any details. Suffice it to say this was a fairly small incident (relative to the scope of the work as a whole) that just happened to hit me unusually hard. This isn’t a fatal issue, of course. I’ll pick it up again once I feel I’ve recovered, perhaps in a less vulnerable moment. Nor is it a criticism of Pluto, by any means. I want to be moved deeply by fiction. That’s why I read it. It’s a powerful testament to the craft of both Tezuka and Urasawa that the series is able to affect me so strongly.

What this experience brings to mind now as I remain here uselessly in my chair, not quite ready to pick up anything else, is other moments in manga that have brought me to tears. …

Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess, Vol. 1

July 28, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

By Atsushi Suzumi
Del Rey, 240 pp.
Rating: T (13+)

Gimmy is a teen boy living in a a desert town that gets its much-needed water by making offerings to the Amefurashi (rain goddess) living in a nearby nimbus tree. When the Amefurashi sends a request (usually asking for a doll) someone in the town must fulfill it or the rain will not come. When Gimmy is asked by the town’s wise man to make a doll for offering, he sets in to the task gamely, but as the appointed time approaches he begins to panic that he can’t finish it in time. Determined to get their older brother off the hook, young twins Mil and Mel dress up as dolls and place themselves on the wise man’s doorstep in a wooden toy box, pretending to be the offering. The wise man has the “dolls” sent to the altar and Mil and Mel are ready to celebrate their victory, but of course the Amefurashi comes along too soon and whisks them away.

When he realizes what’s happened, Gimmy climbs the tree to rescue them, but is himself captured by the Amefurashi, who turns out to be a cute little girl brandishing a whip. Gimmy tries various tricks to get his brother and sister back, including promising more dolls to the Amefurashi (who follows him back to town), but nothing goes as planned and ultimately the Amefurashi is so weakened by her excursion that her tree and the town come under threat from a rival rain goddess who wishes to gain control of the town’s rain for herself.

Though Amefurashi‘s premise on its own sounds like great folklore, the execution is so light and breezy, all the things that could have been truly compelling about it—the missing children, the weakening of the tree, the disastrous consequences for the townsfolk, even the Amefurashi’s obsession with dolls—are shunted to the side in favor of wacky action scenes (like the kids attempting to fight a giant flying caterpillar invading the tree), dull jokes (like Gimmy being taken for a “pest” and later an “ant”), and shots of the Amefurashi (who goes by the name “Sora”) looking feisty with her whip. There’s a lot of potential buried in this story, but most of it is brazenly ignored over the course of this volume.

Sora is alternately arrogant and bratty, powerful and helpless—childish to the extreme though her calling is so serious. The rival rain goddess later explains that Sora (and her tree) are yet immature, but it still seems odd that someone so much a part of nature would be so ignorant of the ramifications of her own actions throughout the volume. She is, at least, genuinely distraught over the fate of her tree which leads her to contemplating her purpose in life. Gimmy is a typical nerd hero, good at making things (including an experimental skateboard he loses to Sora early on) and somewhat bashful, but with a hero’s heart underneath. The twins, Mil and Mel, are just plain adorable.

By the end of the volume, it appears that Sora, Gimmy, Mil, and Mel are going to be heading off to save Sora’s tree (and ultimately the town) together, which has potential to create something almost as compelling as the folklore aspects might have been had they been truly explored. This may bring a little more cohesiveness to the story and should deepen the characterization somewhat.

Suzumi’s art is fun, expressive, and easy to follow, providing one of the highlights of the series so far. The visual storytelling shows off the mangaka’s strengths nicely, though the story itself lacks the same depth of skill. Though at this point, Amefurashi is nothing special, it does show potential for growth.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Volume 2

July 28, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Vol. 2
By Motoro Mase
Published by Viz Media

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Fujimoto is becoming accustomed to his job as the harbinger of people’s doom, but he’s not sure if that’s a good thing. The volume opens as his girlfriend tells him she’s leaving him because she feels crushed by the weight of his work. Meanwhile, the work goes on and this volume introduces two new victims of the government’s Social Welfare Act. Both stories are tragic, of course, perhaps even more so than those told in the first volume, though both victims also end up changing other people’s lives for the better, one through the work he’s able to during his short life, and the other, sadly, through her death.

Despite whatever “good” has been done by these individuals, however, there is still no evidence that the government’s systematic murder of its citizens is actually a positive thing at all. One emerges from this volume hoping against hope that Fujimoto might find the stomach to start a rebellion of some kind, not that he’s yet demonstrated anything approaching that kind of fortitude. His deepest conflict right now is whether to let himself grow colder still toward the unfortunate souls he must visit (on the way to one last-minute Ikigami delivery, he asks his driver to make a stop at the video store so that he can avoid paying a late fee) or whether he should try to discover some philosophy of life and death that he can use to help heal their pain. This is the extent of what he can manage emotionally at this point.

I found the individual stories in this volume even more compelling than those in the last, which is certainly something that will keep me reading. I do hope the story will find a new direction to explore before the manga’s current formula becomes tedious, as it undoubtedly will should it continue on like this much longer. For the moment, however, what is offered here is more than enough to keep readers engaged. Ikigami continues to be a fascinating and well-told story with fantastic art to match.

Volume two of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit will be available on August 11th, 2009. Review copy provided by the publisher. Click here to read my review of volume one.

Dororo, Vols. 1-3

July 27, 2009 by Katherine Dacey

If Phoenix is Tezuka’s Ring Cycle, Wagnerian in scope, form, and seriousness, then Dororo is Tezuka’s Don Giovanni, a playful marriage of supernatural intrigue and lowbrow comedy whose deeper message is cloaked in shout-outs to fellow artists (in this case, Shunji Sonoyama instead of Vicente Martin y Soler), self-referential jokes, pop-culture allusions, fourth-wall humor, and a bestiary of bodacious demons.

Its hero, Hyakkimaru, is born under a black cloud, thanks to a deal his father, Lord Daigo, struck with forty-eight devils: in exchange for political and military power, Daigo allowed each demon to claim one of his unborn child’s body parts. After his son’s birth, Daigo places Hyakkimaru in a basket and, against his wife’s wishes, sets the baby adrift on a river. A kind doctor rescues and raises Hyakkimaru, eventually building him a new body that transformed the legless, armless boy into a fighting machine equipped with an exploding nose and sword prostheses. It doesn’t take long, however, before Daigo’s minions begin attacking Hyakkimaru and menacing Dr. Honma. In an effort to spare his mentor’s life, Hyakkimaru bids farewell to Dr. Honma and embarks on a quest to reclaim his body from the demons who aided Lord Daigo.

Hyakkimaru soon acquires a traveling companion: Dororo, a pint-sized pickpocket with a big mouth and a bad attitude. Despite Hyakkimaru’s efforts to rid himself of Dororo, the kid bandit vows not to leave Hyakkimaru’s side until he gets his hands on one of Hyakkimaru’s swords. The two wander a war-torn landscape, stumbling across fire-ravaged temples, starving villages, bandits, profiteers, homeless children… and demons. Lots of them.

dororo2 Though much of the devastation that Hyakkimaru and Dororo witness is man-made (Dororo takes placed during the Sengoku, or Warring States, Period), demons exploit the conflict for their own benefit, holding small communities in their thrall, luring desperate travelers to their doom, and feasting on the never-ending supply of human corpses. Some of these demons have obvious antecedents in Japanese folklore — a nine-tailed kitsune — while others seem to have sprung full-blown from Tezuka’s imagination — a shark who paralyzes his victims with sake breath, a demonic toad, a patch of mold possessed by an evil spirit. (As someone who’s lived in prewar buildings, I can vouch for the existence of demonic mold. Lysol is generally more effective than swordplay in eliminating it, however.) Hyakkimaru has a vested interest in killing these demons, as he spontaneously regenerates a lost body part with each monster he slays. But he also feels a strong sense of kinship with many victims — a feeling not shared by those he helps, who cast him out of their village as soon as the local demon has been vanquished.

dororo3 For folks who find the cartoonish aspects of Tezuka’s style difficult to reconcile with the serious themes addressed in Buddha, Phoenix, and Ode to Kirihito, Dororo may prove a more satisfying read. The cuteness of Tezuka’s heroes actually works to his advantage; they seem terribly vulnerable when contrasted with the grotesque demons, ruthless samurai, and scheming bandits they encounter. Tezuka’s jokes — which can be intrusive in other stories — also prove essential to Dororo‘s success. He shatters the fourth wall, inserts characters from his stable of “stars,” borrows characters from other manga-kas’ work, and punctuates moments of high drama with low comedy, underscoring the sheer absurdity of his conceits… like sake-breathing shark demons. Put another way, Dororo wears its allegory lightly, focusing primarily on swordfights, monster lairs, and damsels in distress while using its historical setting to make a few modest points about the corrosive influence of greed, power, and fear.

If I had any criticism of Dororo, it’s that the story ends too abruptly. Neither hero has reached the end of his journey, yet neither seems firmly resolved to continue his quest; they simply part ways at Hyakkimaru’s suggestion. I’m guessing that Tezuka was avoiding the obvious, sentimental conclusion suggested by a major revelation in volume three, but even that would have been better than slamming on the brakes at an arbitrary point in the narrative.

Weak ending notwithstanding, Dororo is one of Tezuka’s most accessible series, free of the historical and cultural baggage that can be an obstacle to enjoying his more ambitious, adult stories. If you haven’t yet explored Tezuka’s work, have found titles like Apollo’s Song too fraught for your tastes, or are wondering why this somewhat corny, boy-versus-monster manga beat out critical favorites like Monster and solanin in this year’s Eisner race, Dororo makes a perfect (re)introduction to Tezuka’s unique storytelling style. Highly recommended.

This review is based on complimentary copies provided by Vertical, Inc. for the purposes of a review. I have not received any form of compensation from Vertical, Inc. in exchange for publishing my opinion of this book.

DORORO, VOLS. 1-3 • BY OSAMU TEZUKA • VERTICAL, INC. • NO RATING

Unsophisticated and Rude

July 27, 2009 by MJ 3 Comments

Unsophisticated and Rude
By Momoko Tenzen
Published by DMP

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When Hiroto’s best friend, Satoshi, confesses that he’s fallen for another guy (popular upperclassman, Nao) it’s a bit of a shock, but not for the reasons Satoshi might have expected. It’s not the fact that Satoshi is crushing on a boy that bothers Hiroto but rather which boy. Hiroto, too, has always harbored feelings for Nao and in fact still struggles to deal with the memory of a drunken night they once shared, something he’s sure Nao wants to forget. Torn between friendship and love, Hiroto mainly tries to avoid being around Satoshi as he watches him getting closer and closer to Nao, but it is Nao’s true feelings that are the real surprise.

…

Toxic Planet

July 26, 2009 by MJ

Toxic Planet
By David Ratte
Published by Yen Press

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Sam’s world is one created by industry and global warming, where vegetation is ancient legend and gas masks are a daily necessity. Both the earth and its atmosphere are irrevocably poisoned, ecologists are considered enemies of the state, and trees are seen only in museum exhibits. Yet somehow, all this is funny. Really, really funny. Released by Yen Press first as a webcomic and now in print, French cartoonist David Ratte’s satirical comic transforms environmentalism into the sublime by mixing harshly real messages with sharp, occasionally whimsical humor.

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After School Nightmare, Volume 1

July 25, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

Just now I’ve posted a review for the first volume of Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare over at Comics Should Be Good! This is a series I keep hearing good things about, and my experience with the first volume certainly backs that up. I’ve always been fascinated by dreams, so just the premise was enough to get me hooked, but the story’s rich characters and fantastic art make it even more compelling. This review gets special mention over here, because I’m keen to add this volume to my “Recently Recommended” sidebar widget, that’s how much I enjoyed it. Please head on over and check out my review! (Reprinted here after the demise of CSBG)

On a somewhat related note, congratulations, also, to everyone over at CSBG’s parent site, Comic Book Resources for its Eisner win last night!

After School Nightmare, Volume 1 By Setona Mizushiro Published by Go!Comi

Everybody has some kind of secret, though Ichijo Mashiro’s is bigger than most: he was born with a male upper body and a female lower body, something he has successfully kept from his peers for his entire life. Unfortunately, this secrecy can’t last once his school enrolls him in a special after-hours “class” in which he is placed into a shared nightmare with other students. In the nightmare, the students are reduced to their “true forms,” revealing their worst fears and deepest wounds to each other. One student, for instance, appears in the dreams with gaping holes in place of her face and chest, while another appears in a full suit of armor. Yet another appears as a pair of endless, disembodied arms. Unlike the others, Ichijo’s true form looks exactly like himself, only dressed in a girl’s school uniform.

In order to graduate from the class, the students must obtain a mysterious “key” which any of them might carry, and in order to do so, the students consistently try to destroy each other within the dream. The students’ individual class sessions are limited by a cord with three beads on it that appears around their necks. When a student’s heart sustains damage (such as through extreme shock or pain) the beads break one by one. Three broken beads indicate failure, at which point the student wakes from the dream and is dismissed until the next class. It is clear that in order to graduate from the class, there is something each student must overcome, but no direction is given to them regarding how to do that or even exactly what it is.

Ichijo’s gender conflict is obviously the center of his own fear and it is fascinating to watch that explored in this volume. As the story begins, he experiences his first menstruation cycle which shakes his long-time identification as male and seems to be the catalyst for his initiation into the after school class. His loathing of his own body is paramount. “You’re not distorted at all, Mashiro-kun,” another student says to him after his first class, “even from the bottom of your heart.” “She’s wrong,” Ichijo says to himself. “This body I walk around in is the most distorted thing of all. That’s why I didn’t turn into anything else in that dream. Because this body is uglier than anything I know.” His personal struggle is complicated further by romantic attention from two of his fellow students–Kureha, a girl who was sexually molested as a child and now fears men (except for Ichijo, whom she now sees as “safe,” thanks to his female sexual organs) and Sou, a boy with a reputation as a womanizer in his class who has secretly harbored feelings for Ichijo all along, believing him to be male.

The issues of gender identification and sexuality addressed in the series are really compelling overall, though it’s hard to tell at this point just what the author is trying to say about them. It is clear that Ichijo associates being male with strength and being female with weakness which is a significant part of why he is so determined to live as male, but his ideas are being challenged from all sides which is terrifying for him but quite thrilling for the reader. These issues are not the entire focus of the story, however. For instance, one of the most interesting things about Ichijo, is that he is apparently the only student (in his current class, at least) to have ever tried to save another student during the nightmare–something which most of the other students see as extremely foolish.

The story’s supporting characters are at least as fascinating as Ichijo, though still somewhat mysterious at this point. Their personal scars are deep and their positions with each other terrifyingly vulnerable, both inside and outside of the nightmare, now that those scars are being openly displayed to each other day after day. Some of the students appear in such distorted forms during the dreams, it’s impossible to tell who they are in real life, but a few of their identities are revealed in this volume and that will probably continue as the series goes on. The emotional intimacy forced upon them during the dreams really is every teen’s nightmare and though the full implications of that have yet to be explored, it’s something I’m anticipating eagerly as a reader. There is so much rich material here to work with, I can only hope the series follows through.

Mizushiro’s art is a true highlight, especially during the nightmare sections which are genuinely creepy. This volume has a somewhat sparse look overall, with a restrained use of tone and a nicely crisp feel which adds to the tension of the story. The volume begins with a short section of genuinely beautiful color pages, the last of which is a poignant illustration of Ichijo standing in the shower, horrified by blood that has trickled to his feet, lending the series strong emotional resonance from the start.

After School Nightmare‘s tenth and final volume was released by Go!Comi in February of this year, making the full series available to English-speaking readers. Its strong art and compelling characters help to create a genuinely stunning first volume and this is a series I’ll definitely be continuing as quickly as I can.

Broken Blade, Volume 1

July 22, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

Broken Blade, Vol. 1
By Yunosuke Yoshinaga
Published by CMX

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Rygart Arrow has grown up in a world where all devices and machines are powered by quartz, controlled by his people’s inborn ability to infuse the quartz with energy using nothing but a thought. Unfortunately, Rygart is one of the very rare few born without this ability, otherwise known as an “unsorcerer.” As the story begins, Rygart is abruptly summoned to his country’s capital to meet with the King and Queen, who also happen to be his best friends from boarding school, Hodr and Sigyn. Confused and completely in the dark about the reason behind his sudden visit, Rygart arrives cracking jokes, but the hilarity fades quickly as his friends share with him the fact that their country is under attack. Worse still, the invading army is being led by the fourth in their old school gang, a budding military genius named Zess. Baffled by the news, Rygart encourages Hodr to surrender to the enemy’s obviously superior forces, until Hodr reveals that one of the conditions of surrender proposed by the invaders is that the royal family (including his wife) be executed.

…

Boys Over Flowers 28 by Yoko Kamio: B+

July 21, 2009 by Michelle Smith

boysoverflowers28 From the back cover:
Tsukushi’s friend Yuki is still fixated on Sojiro*, a member of the F4. While struggling to understand him she immerses herself in a mysterious event from his past. Meanwhile, spies continue to track Tsukushi and Tsukasa’s every move. The two of them will have to take some outlandish steps to outsmart the snoops and get some “alone time!”

* The back cover actually says “Akira” here. Tsk tsk, VIZ. While Akira and Sojiro might’ve seemed interchangeable at the beginning of the series, they certainly aren’t anymore.

Review:
Here’s another volume that very nicely balances the relationship between Tsukushi and Tsukasa with Yuki’s ongoing efforts to get through to Sojiro. On the former front, after an annoying bout of insecurity in which Tsukushi wonders whether Tsukasa just sees her as a novelty because she’s poor (since she hasn’t seen him return to the dingy apartment he rented next door), they proceed to have some cute/good scenes, like when she thinks that her laying next to him will help him sleep in an unfamiliar place (wrong!) or when they very nearly consummate their relationship.

Yuki, meanwhile, has been told by Sojiro that there was one girl he loved—whom we meet in a side story called “Story of an Encounter”—but he did her wrong by not showing up to a certain rooftop at 5 a.m. as she’d requested. Yuki searches through a bunch of rooftops until she finds the right one and drags Sojiro off to see what the girl had been trying to show him. Personally, I’m not sure what Yuki sees in Sojiro, but I like her calm determination quite a bit, so I’m interested to see where this’ll go.

Once again, not a whole lot more to say other than “it’s good and here were my favorite bits.” With this volume, it also beats Basara for the honor of Longest Shoujo Series I Have Read.

High School Debut, Volume 11

July 21, 2009 by MJ 10 Comments

High School Debut, Vol. 11
By Kazune Kawahara
Published by Viz Media

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As this volume begins, Miyabi, the girl in Yoh’s prep class who was very obviously developing a thing for him in the previous volume, starts pushing herself between Yoh and Haruna. Though it is unclear in the beginning how much is intentional, as the volume goes on, she moves into bona fide psycho territory–sending fake messages from Yoh’s phone, blocking Haruna’s calls, and so on. Fortunately, just as this arc is becoming a bit too much to bear, things lighten up with a story in which Haruna’s lack of understanding about the significance of an overnight trip with Yoh runs them both around in circles, bringing the series back into its comfort zone (and me with it).

I won’t lie. I really disliked the first half of this volume. I have very little patience for the too-common portrayal of physically unattractive characters as obvious villains. I’ve long accepted that manga characters–especially shojo manga characters and always the romantic leads–are going to be uniformly beautiful people, even when they begin as ugly ducklings. The idea that people must be (or become) beautiful in order to be loved pervades all media, not just manga, and I’ve learned to clutch my Charlotte Brontë novels closely to my chest, deal with it, and move on.

It is really irksome, then, that in this rare instance in which a character with a plain face and unconventional body type is introduced, she is an angry, loathsome, seriously unbalanced stalker, threatening to steal the good-looking hero away from his cute, perky heroine. (Though even the heroine becomes overweight and unattractive while being kept away from her man–look what happens to a girl deprived of love!) I realize I’m ranting at this point, but I honestly found this story line to be pretty repugnant, especially in a series aimed at teen girls, many of whom may be seeing a young, female character who they can relate to physically for the first time ever in the manga they read, only to find her portrayed as a complete monster.

It is a real testament to the charm of this series, however, that by about ten pages into the next arc it had already won me back. Haruna is adorably innocent, Yoh is adorably devoted, and all is right with the world. I suspect most readers will not have the same extreme reaction to the beginning of volume as I had, but for those who might, take heart! Though the first half of this volume loses some of the fun inherent to this series, by the end it has returned to its usual, delightful self. High School Debut, I still love you.

Volume eleven of High School Debut will be available on September 1st, 2009. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Boys Over Flowers 27 by Yoko Kamio: B+

July 20, 2009 by Michelle Smith

boysoverflowers27 From the back cover:
Tsukushi makes a shocking announcement at a party! Then her parents move into a tiny apartment, forcing Tsukushi and her brother to get their own place—next door to someone she knows. And Tsukushi’s friend Yuki is becoming increasingly infatuated with Sojiro, one of the F4. Is she willing to compromise herself for what she thinks he wants?!

Review:
So many nice things happened in this volume. It’s a feel-good volume on the main couple front and also significantly advances the subplot about Tsukushi’s friend Yuki and her feelings for Sojiro.

What did I love?
* Kamio-sensei evidently knows full well that fans squee when Tsukasa is shown when wet hair, because she finds a couple of excuses to depict him thusly in this volume. I don’t disapprove.

* Tsukushi makes an effort to be more forthright with Tsukasa, and ends up telling the gang that she loves him and they’re going out.

* All of the shoujo angst about Yuki’s confession to Sojiro and his subsequent attempts to scare Yuki by making it seem he intends to bed her are a lot of fun. I’m really enjoying this subplot!

* After a thief breaks into Tsukushi and Susumu’s new apartment, Tsukasa moves in next door and takes an adorable trip to a public bath house.

* There’s a really sweet scene between Tsukushi and Rui wherein he says he’s happy for her but a bit sad as well, since he looked on her as his pet.

Other than new plot developments, there really isn’t a lot to praise in this series that I haven’t praised already. I can only say that I really like the place that it’s in right now.